A new drug combination for rheumatoid arthritis treats the disease just as well as other intensive treatment strategies but with less medication and fewer side effects at a significantly lower cost. Doctoral researcher Diederik De Cock (KU Leuven) describes the strategy in a new study published in Annals of Rheumatic Diseases. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic auto-immune disease that causes pain and stiffness in the joints, fatigue, bone damage and, eventually, loss of mobility. RA afflicts around 1% of people in the western world; in Belgium, 80,000 to 100,000 ...

Hidden away in the tropical darkness of nocturnal Madagascar, scientists have discovered a new species of gecko which has been described in the open access journal Zoosystematics and Evolution. A master of disguise, the new species Paroedura hordiesi has camouflage pattern to blend with its natural habitat, while climbing on rocks and the ruins of an old fort, where it was spotted by scientists. Home of the new gecko, the karstic limestone massifs in the region of northern Madagascar are believed to still harbour further undescribed reptile species, some of which might ...

BOSTON - The innate immune system serves as the body's specialized armed forces division, comprised of a host of defense mechanisms used to battle bacterial infections. Among the system's warriors are white blood cells including the specialized macrophages, which maintain constant surveillance for foreign intruders or pathogens, functioning as the body's first line of defense, poised to attack at barrier sites including the skin, lungs and intestines. Now, a research team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) finds that naturally occurring ...

Recognizing the emotions other people feel is crucial for establishing proper interpersonal relations. To do so, we look at (amongst other things) facial expressions and body posture. Unfortunately, in some neurological disorders this ability is heavily impaired. This happens, for example, in multiple sclerosis where scientific evidence shows that people affected by the disease often have trouble recognizing expressions that communicate emotions. A new study now demonstrates that the same difficulty may also be encountered with emotions conveyed by posture. In addition, ...

A newly identified signaling pathway that stimulates glucose uptake in brown fat cells might be useful for treating type 2 diabetes and obesity, according to a study in The Journal of Cell Biology. When the body encounters cold temperatures, the sympathetic nervous system activates adrenoceptors on the surface of brown fat cells to stimulate glucose uptake from the bloodstream. Brown fat cells then use this glucose as a fuel source to generate body heat. Glucose uptake also can be induced by insulin. However, although insulin-stimulated glucose-uptake is well understood, ...

THE term 'spirituality' is now widely used to describe the qualities that give people hope, meaning and purpose. In the case of patients, it can aid their recovery. The University of Huddersfield has become a key centre for research into spirituality and how it can be integrated into health care teaching and practice. Articles, overseas conference presentations and now close links with an NHS trust are among the recent outputs and activities of the University's Spirituality Special Interest Group, based in the School of Human and Heath Sciences. Established for ten ...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 2014 -- Throughout the history of science, many major discoveries came accidentally. Sometimes they came from recognizing potential in an unexpected product or even a failed recipe's waste. Other times, discovery came out of pure desperation from a seemingly dead-end experiment. This week, Reactions celebrates those happy accidents that ended up changing the world in the first episode of a new sub-series, "Legends of Chemistry." Check out the video here: http://youtu.be/Xowen_a787Y. Subscribe to the series at Reactions YouTube, and follow us on Twitter ...

A darting mouse may hold an important clue in the development of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autism and bipolar disorder, according to a study by a Vanderbilt University-led research team recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The transgenic mouse, into which was inserted a rare human genetic variation in the dopamine transporter (DAT), could lead to improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of these all-too-common brain disorders, said Randy Blakely, Ph.D., the report's senior author. The mutation, which has ...

AUGUSTA, Ga. - A gene known to play a major role in constricting blood vessels also appears to be a major player in the aberrant blood vessel growth that can destroy the vision of premature babies. Endothelin gene expression is greatly increased in the retinal tissue of a mouse model of retinopathy of prematurity, a condition that significantly affects about 1,500 infants annually, resulting in blindness in about half those babies, according to researchers at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University. The finding points toward a new therapy to help ...

Ann Arbor, MI, November 10, 2014 -- Public health researchers seeking to determine an individual's risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD), coronary heart disease (CHD), or stroke have previously relied on national US data, such as that provided by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). Now, new data compiled and evaluated by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide information at the state level for the first time, paving the way for targeted intervention programs. Their results appear in the American ...

(Boston)--A new study has found it is possible to distinguish between different hemorrhagic fevers, including Marburg (Ebola cousin) and Lassa before the person becomes symptomatic. The study, which appears in the journal BMC Genomics will allow for the development of better diagnostics, especially during the early stages of disease, when treatments have a greater chance of being effective. Hemorrhagic fevers include Lassa, which is endemic in Western Africa and Marburg, which causes sporadic outbreaks in Africa associated with high rates of mortality. The early symptoms ...

Researchers from North Carolina State University and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology have found that temperature-controlled aggregation in a family of new semi-conducting polymers is the key to creating highly efficient organic solar cells that can be mass produced more cheaply. Their findings also open the door to experimentation with different chemical mixtures that comprise the active layers of the cells. Polymer solar cells are a delicately controlled mixture of a polymer donor and a fullerene acceptor. The cell is created by adding a solvent to the ...

SEATTLE--Group Health patients with a positive screening test for colon cancer (a stool test or sigmoidoscopy) tended to be more likely to get the recommended follow-up test, a diagnostic colonoscopy, if nurse navigators contacted them than if they got usual care. This is according to "Results of Nurse Navigator Follow-up After Positive Colorectal Cancer Screening Test: A Randomized Trial" in the November-December Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, led by Beverly B. Green, MD, MPH, a Group Health physician and a Group Health Research Institute associate investigator. ...

In research published today in the Astrophysical Journal, an Australian led team of astronomers has used radio telescopes in Australia and Chile to see inside the remains of a supernova. The supernova, known as SN1987A, was first seen by observers in the Southern Hemisphere in 1987 when a giant star suddenly exploded at the edge of a nearby dwarf galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. In the two and a half decades since then the remnant of Supernova 1987A has continued to be a focus for researchers the world over, providing a wealth of information about one of ...

New York | Heidelberg, 10 November 2014 -- Physicists have, for the first time, explored in detail the time evolution of the conductivity, as well as other quantum-level electron transport characteristics, of a graphene device subjected to periodic ultra-short pulses. To date, the majority of graphene studies have considered the dependency of transport properties on the characteristics of the external pulses, such as field strength, period or frequency. The new findings have now been published in EPJ B by Doniyor Babajanov from the Turin Polytechnic University in Tashkent, ...

Philadelphia, November 10, 2014 -- Physician-patient communication about goals of care is a low risk, high value intervention for patients with a life threatening illness, the American College of Physicians (ACP) advises in a paper published in JAMA Internal Medicine. "Discussions about end-of-life care, especially early in the course of a life-limiting illness, are associated with care more consistent with patient goals and improved patient outcomes, including longer survival rates and better quality of life," said Dr. David Fleming, president, ACP. "This approach is ...

Scientists believe a new treatment, shown to be effective in mice, could halt the growth of tumours in patients with prostate cancer. Pioneering research, by academics at the Universities of Bristol, Nottingham and the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), shows that a specific compound can inhibit the activity of a molecule which is key to how tumours form new blood vessels. The vessels are essential for the cancer cells to survive and multiply. The findings, published today [10 November] in the journal Oncogene, show that targeting a molecule called SRPK1 ...

The sound of monitor alarms in hospitals can save patients' lives, but the frequency with which the monitors go off can also lead to "alarm fatigue," in which caregivers become densensitized to the ubiquitous beeping. Researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have tackled this problem and developed a standardized, team-based approach to reducing cardiac monitor alarms. The process reduced the median number of daily cardiac alarms from 180 to 40, and increased caregiver compliance with the process from 38 percent to 95 percent. "Cardiac monitors ...

Laundry detergent pods began appearing on U.S. store shelves in early 2010, and people have used them in growing numbers ever since. The small packets can be tossed into a washing machine without ever having to measure out a liquid or powder. The convenience, though, has come with risks for young children. A new study from researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital found that from 2012 through 2013, U.S. poison control centers received reports of 17,230 children younger than 6 years of age swallowing, inhaling, or otherwise being exposed to chemicals in laundry detergent ...

When bladder cancer patients are well-informed by their physicians, they acknowledge that tobacco use was likely the cause of their disease. The finding comes from a new study published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Patients with such knowledge may be more motivated to quit smoking, which could help prolong their lives. At least half of bladder cancer cases diagnosed in the United States are the result of cigarette smoking. Bladder cancer is the second most common tobacco-related malignancy, a fact that is not well known ...

Businesses report that U.S. military veterans make excellent employees, but companies still experience challenges locating and hiring them, according to a new RAND Corporation report. Studying a group of companies that have made a major commitment to hire veterans, researchers concluded that challenges remain for veterans seeking civilian jobs and employers hoping to hire them, including continuing difficulty understanding the match between military skills and civilian job requirements. Too often veterans believe their talents apply only in the security or defense ...

The child-mortality gap has narrowed between the poorest and wealthiest households in a majority of more than 50 developing countries, a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine has found. This convergence was mostly driven by the fact that child-mortality rates declined the fastest among the poorest families. In the countries where the gap increased, the study identified a common thread: poor governance. The findings provide important information for making decisions about prioritizing global health investments to effectively promote equity, said ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Researchers at Mayo Clinic's campus in Jacksonville say they have identified first steps in the origin of pancreatic cancer and that their findings suggest preventive strategies to explore. In an online issue of Cancer Discovery, the scientists described the molecular steps necessary for acinar cells in the pancreas -- the cells that release digestive enzymes -- to become precancerous lesions. Some of these lesions can then morph into cancer. "Pancreatic cancer develops from these lesions, so if we understand how these lesions come about, we may ...

This news release is available in French. VIDEO: Arthritis pain in dogs can be relieved, with no side effects, by a new product based on medicinal plants and dietary supplements that was developed at the University of Montreal's... Click here for more information. Arthritis pain in dogs can be relieved, with no side effects, by a new product based on medicinal plants and dietary ...

A team of researchers led by Michele Fumagalli from the Extragalactic Astronomy Group and the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University, were among the first to use ESO's Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on the VLT. Observing ESO 137-001 -- a spiral galaxy 200 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Triangulum Australe (The Southern Triangle) -- they were able to get the best view so far of exactly what is happening to the galaxy as it hurtles into the Norma Cluster. MUSE gives astronomers not just a picture, but provides ...